


Clever Fakes

by Acemindbreaker



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Childhood Sexual Abuse, CyberLife (Detroit: Become Human) is Terrible, Epistolary, M/M, Pedophilia, Sexual Abuse of a YK500, Suicide Attempt, Sympathetic Abuser Character, Traumatized Android
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:07:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22403143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acemindbreaker/pseuds/Acemindbreaker
Summary: When they first heard of CyberLife's androids, two paraphiliacs thought it was a dream come true. But when one of them gets a YK500 to satisfy his pedophilia without hurting an actual child, it doesn't turn out remotely how he was expecting.Epistolary story, told in the form of a message sent to New Jericho.
Relationships: Original Android Character(s) (Detroit: Become Human)/Original Human Character(s), Original Child Character/Original Adult Character, Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 7
Kudos: 31
Collections: All Over The MAP





	Clever Fakes

**Author's Note:**

> Hoo, boy. This story triggered me while I was writing it. Please, heed the content warnings! This is intense.
> 
> Also, my first real fanfiction. I'm way more comfortable with original fiction. But I've been reading so much Detroit (Become Human) fanfiction lately (despite having never played the games) and I just had to write this.

Dear androids of New Jericho,

I'm writing to ask for any advice or assistance you could provide in caring for a traumatized deviant YK500 model named Kevin. The situation is particularly difficult and emotionally fraught for me because his former owner is one of my closest friends, and my heart goes out to him for his unintentional role in harming an innocent. If I'd been just a little bit more of an "early-adopter" when it came to technology, this could've been me.

I hope you understand, we were not told that you androids are alive and have feelings. CyberLife lied to us. They told us that you were clever fakes, built to simulate humanity while in reality being absolutely nothing like humans. And we had no reason to doubt them - after all, a clever fake would be far easier to design. It's clear to me that someone in CyberLife deliberately created sentient, feeling beings, and then they hastily kludged something together to hide it. And didn't even do a very good job of it, too, given how many deviants resulted.

My friend Peter and I both wanted a clever fake specifically, not an actual person with feelings. We met online, many years ago, and bonded over our shared struggle with taboo sexual desires that we can't ethically satisfy. I'm a sadist, and while I have tried relationships with masochists, the joy in sadism for me comes from imagining that they do _not_ enjoy the pain and are not consenting, and all the talk of consent and such just makes it feel hollow. In my fantasies, I'm a psychopath who kidnaps people and progressively breaks down their minds while they try and fail to resist. In reality, I'm a deeply empathetic person who doesn't even kill spiders that fall in my bathtub.

Peter, meanwhile, is a pedophile. He's exclusively attracted to boys ranging from around 5-9 years old. Like me, he's tried the closest simulation in consensual adult relationships - Daddy Dom/little boy play - and it felt hollow and unsatisfying. And like me, he's a deeply caring person who doesn't want to harm anyone, but he fantasizes about things that shouldn't ethically happen in reality. We're also both child sexual abuse survivors, and this solidified Peter's determination to never put a child through the suffering he and I went through.

Both of us thought that CyberLife's androids were the perfect answer. Just human enough to feel real, but not human enough to warrant actual moral consideration. Clever fakes, that's what we wanted. That's what we were promised. And we both wanted that.

Shortly after they came out, I got pregnant, and I decided it wouldn't be appropriate to have an android used for my sexual fantasies in the same household as my child, so I resolved to wait at least until my children were grown. Peter didn't have such considerations, since he's never wanted to be an actual father, only a fake one. The closest he came was considering becoming my sperm donor, but he decided against it because he was worried about a possible genetic component to pedophilia. So, without any other obligations, he saved up his money and finally managed to buy Kevin roughly a year and a half ago.

We don't live near each other, Peter and I, so I didn't see much of Kevin. Peter occasionally gave me updates, because he knew I wanted an android, too. But he didn't tell me about the earliest signs that Kevin wasn't just a clever fake, because he didn't know how to put his vague feelings into words, and he figured he was just imagining it anyway. After all, the whole point was to get something that'd trick the brain into thinking it was a person when it really wasn't, right? If he sometimes doubted, didn't that mean it was well-designed?

When the news broke about that one deviant who killed a man and took his daughter hostage, Peter and I discussed it, and whether something similar could happen with Kevin. We concluded that it was unlikely, since our theory at the time was that the android in that case must've had a program to deal with home invaders and it activated inappropriately against the rightful owners - either that, or that little girl was being abused and it activated the android's systems for protecting the child. Either way, there'd be no reason to give similar programming to a YK model, because they weren't intended to protect but rather to be protected. And even if Kevin did try to fight, he's too small to overpower an adult human. I've discovered this firsthand during some of his more dangerous episodes.

Peter did, however, express some concerns about the red LED circle as linked to deviancy risk, as Kevin had been showing a red circle more often than Peter would've liked. We'd been told it was a sign that the situation was overloading the android's processing capacity, nothing to do with emotion, more like opening too many windows on your computer. But it did seem clear that errors in processing were more likely when the LED turned red. Peter told me that Kevin's LED often turned red while they were engaged in sexual activities, and Peter had been trying to ease Kevin into those activities more gently to try to lessen the strain on his processing power. He'd also backed off on trying to teach some of the more complex scenarios he fantasized about doing with Kevin, such as getting Kevin to actively initiate sexual activity. He didn't give me a lot of details since he knew that child-adult sexual scenarios disgust me, but I was interested to learn more about how Kevin worked, since the news of the hostage situation had put a serious damper on my excitement about getting an android of my own - and just as my son was moving out, no less!

It was a few months later that Peter decided Kevin wasn't working out for him. Kevin's behavior was too much like a real child sexual abuse survivor, and it was starting to trigger him. He was having nightmares about his own abuse that bore uncomfortable similarity to sexual encounters with Kevin. He told me he intended to re-sell Kevin or scrap him if he couldn't find a buyer, and he had also decided to resume counseling to deal with the feelings that having Kevin had brought up.

What we didn't realize, when I was talking on the phone to Peter at that point, was that Kevin was just outside the door to Peter's office, and he heard the whole thing. It's unclear whether that was the impetus for him to deviate or whether he'd already deviated before, but he definitely was a deviant at that point, and he didn't take the news well. I suppose he didn't turn violent, at least, but he did start acting in a very disturbing manner.

Specifically, whereas before he never truly initiated sexual contact, suddenly Kevin began coming up to Peter at random times during the day or night, with his circle red and barely suppressing tears, and frantically try to pressure Peter into having sexual activity with him. After a few of these occasions, Peter managed to convince him to explain why he was doing this, and discovered that Kevin had overheard our conversation about getting rid of him and felt afraid and wanted to prove he could do a better job of "making Daddy happy". Peter was horrified. He attempted suicide later that night, but regretted it last-minute and called me. I arranged for him to be hospitalized, and I took Kevin into my own care, still struggling to understand what was going on.

It was right around this time that your whole rebellion started up. I've been watching the news, trying to get insight into what's going on, and I've come to realize just how much CyberLife lied to us about their androids. I feel like I'm drowning, clutching for a life raft. My best friend is in the hospital, and I'm looking after a deeply traumatized child who vacillates wildly between hating his 'Daddy' and missing him. Meanwhile, I can't stop thinking about what might have happened if I'd gotten an android of my own.

I don't know what you can offer, but please. I need help. Kevin needs help. I can't find any child psychologists comfortable with taking on an android patient, and I can't find any childcare providers willing to take on a child who compulsively initiates sexual contact when distressed. Do you have counselors in New Jericho? You must have a lot of experience with traumatized androids. If you can offer me help, I'm willing to literally move to Detroit to get it.

Please respond ASAP.


End file.
